RED Announces New Scarlet-W 5K Camera in a Weapon Body

In a true RED fashion, less than 24 hours ago, RED announced not one, but 2 new cameras – the Scarlet-W and the Scarlet-W Monochrome. According to RED boss Jarred Land in a forum posting over at reduser.net, the new cameras were originally supposed to be released at NAB 2016, but they’ve decided to announce them earlier before Christmas and before early spring in March when the Raven is supposed to be shipping as to not keep Scarlet Dragon owners in the dark.

In short, at the heart of the new Scarlet-W lays a 5,120 x 2,700 Super 35 13.8 Megapixel RED DRAGON sensor capable of recording resolutions including 5K (Full Sensor readout) at 48fps, 5K in 2.40:1 aspect ratio up to 60fps as well as super-slow motion at 4K in 2.4:1 up to 150fps.

The two new camera systems are part of the DSMC 2.0 line of camera bodies and accessories started with the Weapon and its various models, as well as the other newly announced entry-level RAVEN, which was announced back in September this year.

As part of the “Weaponised” DSMC 2.0 RED bodies, the Scarlet-W does get built-in Wi-Fi capabilities, 3D LUT support (17 x 17 x 17) and also simultaneous REDCODE RAW (.r3d) and Apple ProRes HQ 422 recording. Similar to the Raven, the ProRes recording is limited to 2K at 60fps and is scaled, not a crop from the sensor, which is a good thing. Unlike the RED RAVEN, the Scarlet-W has interchangeable mounts (Canon EF, Nikon, PL and more) and also interchangeable OLPF system – you get a choice of Standard, Skin tones & Highlights, or Low Light.

The Scarlet-W does have more resolution (5K vs 4.5K) than the Raven, which has always been considered as the entry-level camera designed for drone/gimbal use and to also get first time RED owners into the RED ecosystem, but more importantly it does have a full Super 35 Dragon Sensor (25.6 x 13.5mm), not a smaller cut of it like the Raven. This means that users who require full S35 lens coverage will need to go for the Scarlet-W instead of the Raven. The new Scarlet-W cameras, in both price point and feature set, sit above the Raven and below the basic Weapon Magnesium.

This time around, RED is not offering a trade-in program for Scarlet Dragon owners, but instead they get a $2,500 discount on the Scarlet-W Base I/O V-Lock package. Pricing starts at $9,950 for the bare-bones Brain (no mount, just media bay), and $14,500 for the Base I/O Package, which includes:

SCARLET-W BRAIN w/ integrated media bay

DSMC Canon Mount – Aluminum

DSMC² OLPF w/ Case

DSMC² Base I/O V-Lock Expander

DSMC AC POWER ADAPTOR

RED MINI-MAG – 120GB

DSMC² RED Touch 4.7″ LCD

DSMC² Universal Handle

The Scarlet-W is expected to ship in March 2016. You can place your deposit directly from RED here.